LensHero

Every now and then I find a website and think "that would be a good place for club members to visit". We'll I've discovered a site that may come in handy for those of you wanting to splash the cash on a new lens for your dSLR but aren't quite sure which lens is best for the pictures you want to take. Sorry those of you that don't use dSLR's I'll find something great for you soon.

If your wondering what lens you should buy next or feel that your current lens just doesn't work for the type of photography you like to do then go take a look at the LensHero website. They've come up with a great idea and it's so simple I wonder why no one else has thought of it before. We'll OK someone might have but I haven't seen it.

When you first get to the site your asked to enter your make & model of camera. So for me it would be "Canon 400D". Then you simply move the slider to correspond with the amount you wish to spend on the lens.
It looks as though the site uses B&H photo (it's a USA based store) for their prices and converts those prices into the viewers local currency (if I'm wrong then let me know). You just need to understand that the prices will probably not be correct for us in the UK. Unless they figure out a way to show prices from a good reputable UK distributor the site will probably be best used as a guide to help you decide on a lens that suits your style of photography and you should then shop around for the best UK deals for that lens.

The next step is just as easy. You can either use the yellow boxes with the arrows in them to select a specific type of photography (e.g. Macro, Portraiture, Wide Angle) or you can click the zoom tab and choose the minimum and maximum range of the lens you want. There's one other box which is labelled  "Suggest" and you can enter a lens that you already own and it will suggest others that compliment it. My only complaint about the selection process, and it really is a minor one, is when you choose the zoom tab and increase the maximum range of the zoom. The picture zooms in but becomes blurry and out of focus. In my view that's a little off putting. I know the picture has nothing to do with the lens you are trying to decide on but it kind of gives the impression that whatever lens it suggests will do the same.

Once you've entered or selected all the options on this screen you just hit "Go" and your presented with a selection of lenses and their specifications for you to peruse and choose from at your leisure.

The information for each lens is presented clearly and is easy to follow. If your not sure what something means there is a small 'i' next to each bit of information just click that and it and your given an explanation that is relevant to that section.

For those of you that need help choosing a lens this is probably one of the best and, more importantly, easy to use sites. You don't need to have spent ages researching the various lenses. Good suggestions are given to you in just a few mouse clicks.